Seafood lovers unfazed by lobster warnings

Wednesday

Jul 30, 2008 at 12:01 AMJul 30, 2008 at 3:44 PM

State and federal health officials last week warned consumers not to eat tomalley, the soft green substance found in the body cavity of lobsters because it can build up toxins, including paralytic shellfish poison.

Robert Sears

Lobster lovers do not seem be put off by government warnings about toxins, including paralytic shellfish poison.

State and federal health officials last week warned consumers not to eat tomalley, the soft green substance inside lobsters, because it can build up toxins and other pollutants.

Eating the pinkish-white meat in the claws and tail is OK.

“So far we haven’t seen any falloff on demand. Our lobstermen are selling everything they catch to the dealers,” said Warren Brow of Weymouth, president of the Boston Harbor Lobstermen’s Association.

Tomalley, a mushy green substance that some people regard as a delicacy, functions as the lobster's liver and pancreas. Because it filters and processes everything the lobster eats, chemicals that cannot be eliminated or detoxified become concentrated there.

John Daily, who has owned the Hingham Lobster Pound for 50 years, said not a single customer has expressed concern about the warnings issued by the state Department of Public Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

The same is true at Burke’s Seafood in Quincy.

“Tomalley is really a non-issue as far as we’re concerned,” Richard Burke said.

“Ninety percent of the people don’t eat the tomalley nowadays,” Daily said.

It was different 25 years ago, when a cracker spread he made from tomalley and sold by the half pint was in demand.

Both Daily and Brow said the warnings have not deterred them from eating tomalley.

“You make your own decision. It’s not like people have lobster every day,” said Daily.

He said 90 percent of the lobsters he is selling now are from northern Maine and Canada because local lobsters are shedding.

An algae bloom from New England to Canada closed shellfish beds around Boston Harbor, including ones in Quincy and other South Shore communities, earlier in the summer. They have since reopened.